EMface in London: results, cost, sessions and who it suits

This guide is written by the team that has run EMface at our clinic since the device arrived in the UK, and reviewed by our clinician. It answers what you would ask at a consultation: what happens in a session, how it is priced for your face, how many sessions you need and who it suits best.

What EMface is

EMface is a facial treatment made by BTL Industries, the same company behind EMsculpt NEO and Emsella. It is the first device to treat the skin and the muscles of the face in one session, through flat applicators placed on the forehead and cheeks, with further applicators for under the chin and for the eye area. We run the full set.

Two energies run at the same time:

• Synchronised radiofrequency warms the dermis to the temperature at which the skin starts producing new collagen and elastin. That is the part that smooths lines and improves texture.
• HIFES (high intensity facial electrical stimulation) makes the lifting muscles of the face contract selectively. The frontalis muscle lifts the brow, the zygomaticus and risorius lift the cheeks and the corners of the mouth. Working those muscles increases their density and resting tone, which is what gives the lift.

Nothing goes through the skin: there is no needle and nothing is injected. You lie down, the applicators are fixed to your face with a light adhesive, and the machine runs the 20-minute programme on its own.

Does EMface actually work?

Yes, for the right face. BTL, the manufacturer, reports from its own trials an average of 37% fewer wrinkles, 30% more muscle tone and 23% more lift for people who complete the course, with the best results six to twelve weeks after the last session. BTL also reports a 26% increase in collagen and a doubling of elastin from its histology study, which was done on animal skin rather than on patients. Those are BTL's company figures. A BTL-sponsored pilot of ten patients, published in a peer-reviewed journal, found improvement in seven of the eight faces assessed at three months and no adverse events. Our own experience over several thousand sessions matches the pattern: the brow and the cheeks lift first, the nasolabial fold softens, and the skin looks tighter and brighter at around three months. Your clinician tells you at your free consultation what change to expect on your own face.

What EMface does well:

• Lifting a brow that has started to drop and opening the eye area.
• Restoring volume at the cheekbone without adding filler.
• Softening the lines from the nose to the mouth and the early jowl.
• Improving skin tone and texture across the forehead and cheeks.

What EMface does not do:

• It does not remove fat under the chin on its own. The submentum applicator helps with a soft double chin, but a fat pad needs a different plan.
• It is not designed for skin that has lost its elasticity, where the jowls hang. If a fold of loose skin at the jaw stays when you lift it, that is more than EMface lifts, and the clinician will tell you so at your free consultation.
• It does not stop the face moving: it lifts, and every expression stays.

Who EMface suits, and who it does not

The best candidates are people in their late thirties to sixties with mild to moderate laxity: an early drop at the brow, flattening cheeks, a softening jawline, fine lines on the forehead. EMface has been studied on Fitzpatrick skin types I to IV; if your skin is darker we discuss it at the consultation rather than assume.

Your clinician checks each of these at your free consultation; EMface is not for you if you have any of them:

• A pacemaker, defibrillator or any implanted electronic device.
• Metal implants or plates in the face or jaw, or non-dissolving metal threads.
• Pregnancy, or you are trying to conceive.
• Epilepsy, or a history of seizures.
• An active skin infection, open wound or severe acne in the treatment area.
• Facial surgery or threads in the last three months.
• A cancer diagnosis under active treatment.

Our clinic works with your own muscle and collagen, and EMface is the treatment we built the clinic around because it does that without a needle or anything injected. If you want injectable treatments as well, our doctor can provide them, and we time them around your course: we ask for a gap of two weeks after an injectable treatment in the area and four weeks after dermal filler before the first session. Injectables you have had elsewhere are not a reason to stop you, and many people come to us precisely because they want to keep a lifted look without more injections.

What a session is like, step by step

1. Consultation. The clinician looks at your face at rest and moving, confirms there is nothing on the list above, and agrees which areas are worth treating: forehead, cheeks, submentum, or all three.
2. Preparation. Skin is cleansed. No numbing cream is needed. The applicators are placed and fixed. The clinician starts low and raises the energy to the level you can hold comfortably.
3. The 20 minutes. You feel the muscles contract in pulses, a bit like a strong facial massage, with a warming sensation under the pads. You can talk. Many people find it relaxing enough to doze.
4. After. The pads come off, the skin is a little pink for ten to twenty minutes, and you go back to work or dinner. Makeup is fine straight away.

A course of four sessions on the forehead and cheeks is about 80 minutes of treatment time in total; the submentum applicator adds about 20 minutes to each session if you include it.

How many sessions, how far apart, and when you see the result

The muscle part of the result behaves like exercise: it builds with repetition and it fades without it. That is why the sessions are close together and why a single session does not give a lasting lift.

What EMface costs in London

We price EMface from £199 per session, with the price per course confirmed in writing at your free consultation, and we price match any comparable written quote. The forehead and the cheeks are one area each, the submentum is a third. We offer 0% finance over the course. Consultations and follow-up reviews are free whatever you decide.

Every quote we give includes a trained clinician who places the applicators and sets the energy for your face, on a genuine BTL EMface device.

Results you can check

The before and after photographs on our website come from BTL's clinical studies and show the kind of change EMface makes. At your consultation the clinician shows you photographs of our own patients, where we have them, matched to your face and your concern, with their consent, and you can compare them with your own photographs at three months.

Our patients have reviewed the clinic on review.clinic, an independent review platform, where EMface at our clinic holds 4.9 out of 5 from 143 reviews with 100% saying the treatment was worth it (November 2026). Read them before you book; the ones that mention the eyes and the jawline are the most useful.

EMface compared with the alternatives

EMface vs injectable treatments. EMface strengthens the lifting muscles so the face sits higher, and it leaves every expression intact. Our view is that a face should move, and that lifting what has dropped gives a natural result. If your concern is sagging, EMface is the answer. Deep expression lines soften less with EMface than with injectable treatments, and our doctor can provide those as well if you want them.

EMface vs fillers. Filler replaces volume where it has gone, with a substance that is not yours. EMface restores some of that volume by building the cheek muscles and tightening the skin over them, so the face looks fuller without anything being added and without the risk of over-filling. People who have stopped liking the look of filler are among our most satisfied EMface patients, and if you want filler as well, our doctor can provide it.

EMface vs Morpheus8. Morpheus8, which our sister clinic at the same address provides, is a needle-based radiofrequency treatment that reaches deeper into the skin and remodels texture, scarring and laxity, with several days of recovery. EMface gives the lift from the muscles, which Morpheus8 cannot. For jowls and crepey skin with a few days to spare, Morpheus8; for lift and a natural refresh you can go straight back to work after, EMface. The clinician will tell you at your free consultation which suits your face.

EMface vs Sofwave. Sofwave, which our sister clinic at the same address also provides, uses ultrasound to heat the mid-dermis in a single session and is strong on the brow, the jawline and the neck. EMface works the muscle as well as the skin and spreads the work over four short sessions. Patients in their sixties with real laxity often do best with Sofwave first and EMface to keep the lift; the clinician plans the order at your free consultation.

EMface and Exion. We combine EMface with Exion Face, a needle-free radiofrequency and ultrasound treatment, when the skin quality (pores, crepiness, pigment) needs more help than the lift alone gives. Your clinician will say whether that applies to you.

Side effects and aftercare

EMface has a short list of side effects and they are mild: temporary redness under the applicators, a feeling of having exercised the face for a few hours, and occasionally a mild headache on the day of a forehead session. The published pilot study reported no adverse events and we have not seen a serious one in our clinic, but EMface consent forms list temporary crusting, blistering and burns as rare risks, and muscle soreness or a brief spasm as common ones. Tell the clinician if the heat feels too strong at any point; the energy comes down immediately.

Aftercare is simple. Drink water, skip a hard gym session that evening, and use sunscreen as you would anyway. There is nothing to avoid the next day, and you can have a facial or your regular skincare as normal.

How to choose an EMface clinic in London

• Ask who sets the energy and places the applicators. Placement decides whether the lift lands on the brow and cheek or on the wrong muscle. Our sessions are run by trained clinicians in a doctor-led team, who place every applicator and set the energy for your face.
• Ask to see the device. A genuine BTL EMface unit carries the BTL branding and the clinic should be listed by BTL as a provider. Our clinic is in BTL's provider finder, listed under our group name Chelsea Clinic, and runs every EMface applicator.
• Check the regulator. The clinic should be CQC registered. Ours is.
• Ask for the clinic's own before and after photographs. We show you ours, where we have them, at the free consultation, matched to your face and your concern.
• Compare course prices, not session prices, and ask what is included.

Frequently asked questions